Several parts of the State continued to witness violence on Thursday for the third day, as a fallout to the arrest of Pattali Makkal Katchi founder S. Ramadoss.
An explosive device went off underneath a small bridge on the Mayilam road in Villupuram district. A police team led by Superintendent of Police S. Manoharan found 10 unexploded detonators, the kind generally used in slurries, and a length of wire at the spot. The explosion caused minor cracks on the tar topped road, but the bridge remained intact.
At T. Pudupalayam in Thiruvennainallur block, PMK supporters blocked a police van carrying four partymen, who were taken into preventive custody, seeking their release. Miscreants set on fire four TASMAC outlets in Kachirayapalayam block and Thirukkoilur block on Wednesday night.
On Thursday, the windshields of four State Transport Corporation buses were damaged at various places in Villupuram.
Black flags
Residents of Thailapuram and Tindivanam hoisted black flags atop their houses.
A skeleton bus service was operated on Wednesday night with police escort. On certain routes, night services were withdrawn. A container lorry transporting motorcycles from Haryana to Cuddalore was gutted when a petrol bomb was hurled at it on Chengam Road near Thiruvannamalai on Wednesday night. The driver, Shaggar Khan (24), from Rajasthan, sustained serious burn injuries. He is being treated at the Government Vellore Medical College Hospital.
Police in western parts of the State arrested 185 persons in connection with the violence in the last two days. Fifteen State-owned buses were stoned in Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts since Wednesday night.
In some places, miscreants torched trees and felled some of them.
In Krishnagiri, a mob attempted to torch a bus. Bus services from Hosur to Dharmapuri, through Royakottai, were restricted to the minimum.
In Namakkal, police arrested three PMK members for allegedly hurling a petrol bomb at a private bus at Kumbethangalmedu.
According to the police, the bus, proceeding from Attur to Rasipuram, was intercepted by a van with a PMK flag. Occupants of the van hurled a petrol bomb at the bus. Three passengers were injured in the incident. The arrested persons were produced before a Rasipuram court and remanded in judicial custody.
Night services to remote villages were suspended on Thursday night and long-distance buses were operated in convoys.
TNSTC town bus services remained suspended throughout Ariyalur district since Wednesday evening. Mofussil buses were operated from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. only to major towns.
The Thuthoor police arrested eight PMK members when they attempted to tonsure their heads to condemn the arrest.
In view of the bandh call given by the PMK in Puducherry, the Karaikal unit of the party announced a total shutdown of commercial establishments on Friday.
Decrying the arrest of Dr. Ramadoss as an act of “political vendetta,” top functionaries of Anaithu Samuthaya Periyakkam announced a State-wide demonstration on May 9 in front of the offices of Superintendents of Police. B. T. Arasakumar, founder, Thevar Community Coordination Committee, announced this at a press conference in Tiruchi after a meeting of leaders of several caste-based political outfits.